Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.
Better Together
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
Mixed: My Life in Black and White by Angela Nissel  (19)
$11.01
|
Secret Daughter: A Mixed-Race Daughter and the Mother Who Gave Her Away by June Cross  (24)
|
Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (Crossing Press Feminist Series) by Audre Lorde (8)
$11.53
|
Unafraid of the Dark: A Memoir by Rosemary Bray  (6)
$11.66
|
I Could Tell You Stories: Sojourns in the Land of Memory by Patricia Hampl (10)
$10.17
|
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Documentary filmmaker Ragusa, now 40, discusses her "complex heritage"—her mother is African-American, Native American, Chinese and German; her father is Italian-American—in a memoir that's refreshingly intent on creating compelling portraits and contextualizing family history rather than rehashing a personal, emotional journey. While there is talk of Ragusa's coming to terms with "in-between skin" and growing up "biracial" in color-divided 1960s and '70s New York City, this contemporary account of trying to fit in glints with vibrant portrayals of runaway slaves, turn-of-the-century Italian immigrants, interracial flappers, '60s civil rights activists, '70s "black is beautiful" models and '80s suburb seekers. Ragusa writes with a confident, curious narrative voice prone to poetic visual images; readers meet "honey-colored" children, see "blocks of burned-out, boarded-up buildings" and visit neighborhoods with "steam like hot hangover breath hissing from manhole covers." She links the various accounts by a central meditation on how "the stigma of skin color" interacts with ideas of beauty and belonging. The recurring discussion sometimes lacks structure and cohesion, but its modesty ensures that it always comes across as fresh, honest and important. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
"What are you?" "Where are you from?" People have asked Ragusa those questions all her life, and the answers have never been clear. Her mother's family is African American, and her first known ancestor was a runaway slave woman. Her father's family is Italian American, descended from early forced immigrants. When she is growing up, her two grandmothers define her life as she travels between their Harlem homes, a few avenues from each other but worlds apart. She hears the family stories, stumbles on the secrets. Her mother and father tell very different versions of why they broke up. Candid about both the pain and the riches of being biracial, this memoir is just as riveting when Ragusa discusses the unreliability of memory, what is left out in the scraps of story inherited and overheard in every family. Whether she is discovering YA author Judy Blume or celebrating the myth of Persephone, who transforms herself between two worlds, the particulars of Ragusa's story reveal the universal anxiety about belonging and about finding a home in America. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
Documentary filmmaker Ragusa, now 40, discusses her "complex heritage"—her mother is African-American, Native American, Chinese and German; her father is Italian-American—in a memoir that's refreshingly intent on creating compelling portraits and contextualizing family history rather than rehashing a personal, emotional journey. While there is talk of Ragusa's coming to terms with "in-between skin" and growing up "biracial" in color-divided 1960s and '70s New York City, this contemporary account of trying to fit in glints with vibrant portrayals of runaway slaves, turn-of-the-century Italian immigrants, interracial flappers, '60s civil rights activists, '70s "black is beautiful" models and '80s suburb seekers. Ragusa writes with a confident, curious narrative voice prone to poetic visual images; readers meet "honey-colored" children, see "blocks of burned-out, boarded-up buildings" and visit neighborhoods with "steam like hot hangover breath hissing from manhole covers." She links the various accounts by a central meditation on how "the stigma of skin color" interacts with ideas of beauty and belonging. The recurring discussion sometimes lacks structure and cohesion, but its modesty ensures that it always comes across as fresh, honest and important. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
"What are you?" "Where are you from?" People have asked Ragusa those questions all her life, and the answers have never been clear. Her mother's family is African American, and her first known ancestor was a runaway slave woman. Her father's family is Italian American, descended from early forced immigrants. When she is growing up, her two grandmothers define her life as she travels between their Harlem homes, a few avenues from each other but worlds apart. She hears the family stories, stumbles on the secrets. Her mother and father tell very different versions of why they broke up. Candid about both the pain and the riches of being biracial, this memoir is just as riveting when Ragusa discusses the unreliability of memory, what is left out in the scraps of story inherited and overheard in every family. Whether she is discovering YA author Judy Blume or celebrating the myth of Persephone, who transforms herself between two worlds, the particulars of Ragusa's story reveal the universal anxiety about belonging and about finding a home in America. Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Inside This Book Browse Sample Pages: Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Surprise Me! |